Monday, September 29, 2008

RAID Recovery Process

You can get much greater capacities, avoid losing data from disk failure, and do all that at reasonable cost using a technology called Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID. Servers usually function without manual intervention and they are expected to work almost constantly, therefore, RAID is used. This term defines a computer data storage scheme that divides and also replicates data among varied hard disks. In a RAID, the different physical hard disks are combined into a single logical unit by using a special hardware or software.

The three key RAID concepts are:

  • · Mirroring - that of copying data on to different disks in the array
  • · Striping - the splitting of data in more than one disk, and finally
  • · Error correction - redundant data is stored for error detection if the need arises

RAID systems are designed to work reliably; therefore, they are ideally suited for servers. However, at times, RAID array also fail and data recovery from a (RAID) server is a complicated process.

Data loss usually induces panic. Losing data from a RAID server necessitates an important precaution. The disk array order should not be changed. Even if they are removed from the server, they should be placed back in the same order and the data recovery experts must be contacted.

As RAID system provides the inbuilt data protection, for that businesses are looking for to prevent data loss, most businesses count on it. It protects the computer data and help users in avoiding the downtime that accompanies data loss. Many businesses and individual users bank on it to house their mission vital data like business system data (back office, emails, large databases etc) and financial data. However, as it is the case with all technologies, nothing is fail-safe, including RAID drives.

What happens when there is a main issue with the RAID systems that leads the inaccessible data? Though RAID systems are specially designed to safeguard against data loss, they are at rest susceptible to complete system failures if all the drives face problems at same time. Further problems with RAID may occur when RAID controllers do not recognize the disks in the array or if a disk is detached from a hot swappable disk bay and the new disk is swapped in incorrect order. The main thing is that, like a single hard disk system, RAID system can also face the problems and can lead to data loss. But the main difference is, with the RAID failure, the problem can plainly spoilt the business or can halt work because the data written on RAID array is generally business critical.

Unluckily, after facing the RAID malfunction, several businesses give up the hope that the data is inaccessible and there is no chance of recovery. When the RAID failure occurs, most think that it is the end of line for the data- if RAID is broken then there is no method for data recovery. This is simply wrong and businesses need to understand that there are options to recover data. Data Recovery service provider experts can fix this king of data loss problems.

Data recovery service providers are the companies that provide the recovery of the data that are lost due to hardware malfunction. In the case of RAID systems these recovery services can recover data from failed RAID drives. These companies have specially designed data recovery labs, called Clean Room, to recover the lost data with their expert and high technical staff.

Stellar Information Systems is a leading data recovery service provider company that provides data recovery solution through the world. The company can recover data from failed RAID drives